Somali pirates took advantage of calmer seas off East Africa at the weekend to launch a series of attacks on merchant ships across a wide area.
TradeWinds
A gang in a two skiffs, supported by a mothership, targetted the 50,100-dwt tanker UACC Shams (built 2009) in the Somali Basin.
UACC Senior Vice-president of commercial, Mathieu Philippe, says pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the tanker, but it missed their mark.
They broke off their attack and returned to their mothership after armed security guards on board the UACC Shams fired warning shots at one of the pirate-laden skiffs.
All of the UACC Shams’s crew had mustered in the citadel, expect for the master and the duty AB, along with the armed guards.
Philippe told TradeWinds: “The monsoon season is over and the pirates are moving back into the Indian Ocean.
“Companies whose ships trade in the region need to be aware of this.”
The pirate mothership is described as looking like a large fishing vessel or supply vessel with an orange hull and white top.
UACC has the UACC Shams in on long-term charter to UACC from Top Ships of Greece. The vessel was en-route to Dar-es-Salaam at the time the attack took place.
Good Faith’s 67,400-dwt Theoforos I (built 1987) was attacked in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday.
Pirates are understood to have attempted to board the ship with grappling hooks and ladders deployed, but were unable to gain access.
On this occasion it is not clear if armed guards played a role in the ship’s escape.
On a manic Sunday for pirate activity, the 45,100-dwt Lara Rickmers (built 1997) also came under attack.
A rocket-propelled grenade was launched at the vessel in the Arabian Sea.
Pirates, who some sources suggest were using two skiffs and a dhow, gave up the chase after a security team fired warning shots.
Sources say the uptick in attacks expected after the monsoon season has now kicked in with pirates able to take advantage of more benign conditions at sea.